Company of EMBA Alum Recognized on INC500's List of Fastest Growing Private Companies
(9/1/2009) - Khash Sarrafi started a consulting company in 2001 and was a one-man show. The company had a limited amount of business, and Sarrafi outsourced work to a friend. Then he applied for UConn’s EMBA Program, where he graduated in 2007. Now, Sarrafi’s new company, Castle Rock Innovations, is being recognized on the Inc500 list of the fastest growing private companies, experiencing 700% growth in 2008.
How did he do this? A self-described “typical entrepreneur,” Sarrafi notes that after graduating, he “realized the potentials of what I had and where I could take it, since I felt much more comfortable managing a company from strategy, general management and financial perspective.” He made the business decision to merge with the friend he used to outsource to, and quickly after, the company experienced fantastic growth.
Castle Rock Innovations provides custom software solutions, management consulting, and information management for financial institutions and health care companies. The company is ranked in the Inc500 as #378 overall, No. 19 in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI area, and No. 37 in IT Services. Sarrafi gives credit to the UConn EMBA Program in helping him achieve this success.
"The relationships that I established in the program were fantastic,” said Sarrafi. “Having such diverse background, my peers helped me with different aspects of business when questions and concerns arise. I used their situations and their approach to solving those situations to be better prepared.” Sarrafi imparts one scenario when he was looking at acquisitions and was able to save 40k in fees to investment bankers by using a practice he learned in his finance class to do the valuation himself. His new knowledge in business structure and foundation helped him to manage his company finances and have better forecasting to better weather the down economy.
“The faculty and the program managers were especially helpful as they made themselves or other resources at UConn available to me. They truly became a partner for life for my business and I can freely discuss any concerns with them … even after I have graduated.” The EMBA Program gave Sarrafi the confidence and knowledge to pursue and build his business, but “most importantly,” Sarrafi notes that he learned that “anything is possible.”
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